'TripTank' empty of decent humor

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April 2, 2014

The remarkable and enduring popularity of Cartoon Network's “Adult Swim” franchise and its wink-wink approach to “stoner” humor has spawned many imitators.
“TripTank” (9:30 p.m., Comedy Central, TV-MA) seems like a blatant imitation of the long-running “Robot Chicken” series. Perhaps that's because it shares producers with “Chicken.” It even features a recurring cartoon about an attention-hogging suicidal chicken. Originality will only get you so far.

“TripTank” consists of short, recurring bits animated in different styles. If the stories share anything, it's a callous, even mean-spirited, tone of shock value for its own sake, a gross-out one-upmanship that can be popular among young males without responsibilities or commitments to other human beings.

Taken as a whole, the parade of bits on “TripTank” reflects not so much a depraved and desensitized nature but an elaborate affectation of indifference. Apparently, it takes multiple scenes of suicide, jokes at the expense of the homeless mentally ill and the gang rape of a cancer patient to get a reaction out of some people.

The new eight-episode series
“Down East Dickering” (9 p.m., History, TV-PG) follows eccentric locals in Maine who have never held a regular job but cobble together a living doing odd jobs and trading random objects from hubcaps to pears. They're never really on the clock, but they're forever on the make — freelancers extraordinaire who set their own agenda.